SINGAPORE: Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Gigene Wong, has issued a formal apology for using a racial slur against her own running mate Ariffin Sha in a controversial speech she made at a rally on Saturday night (26 Apr).
Ms Wong, speaking in Chinese dialect, had referred to Mr Sha in her speech. Poking fun at his name, she had said, “Our Alafeen – that elephant, you know that elephant? The K!@#$% kia, the one that talk very well? Our future Pritam Singh, I always say, he our future Pritam Singh.”
Making a request to voters to help them recover their election deposits, she continued, “That guy, Elephant ah, haven’t get married leh. 27-year-old, later he no more deposit, his mother would kill him. ‘See lah, tell you don’t go GE already, you still run. Now no more deposit.'”
She concluded, “So I plead with you. Our Marsiling-Yew Tee voters please help us. Don’t let us lose too badly.”
Ms Wong has earned swift backlash online, with the clip of her speech circulating on social media and messaging platforms. Voters were shocked at both the racial slur used against her own teammate so casually as well as the way she denigrated his name.
Some observers also asked why the candidate assumed that losing the contest is a foregone conclusion, questioning her plea for voters to help her team recover their deposits.
Ms Wong has since apologised. In a Facebook post published early this morning (27 Apr), she wrote, “I apologise for the comment I made at last night’s rally which disrespected my fellow candidate Ariffin Sha. I also understand that it offended the Indian community. I have been counselled by my party members about the word and now I understand it is offensive.”
Revealing that the speech that had been vetted by SDP’s leadership had not contained the racial slur, which she said she made off the cuff, Ms Wong wrote: “My comments were very hurtful and unacceptable. I am fully responsible for them. My original vetted speech did not include the comment I said which happened impromptu. There is no excuse and I am sorry for all the pain and anger that I caused.”
She added, “SDP is a party of respect & equality where everyone is included. I have learnt an important lesson from this incident and from now, I will uphold these values in my words and actions.”